


Gay, Lesbian, Lost

by IfullybelieveLarry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - No One Direction, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 20:32:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16166483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IfullybelieveLarry/pseuds/IfullybelieveLarry
Summary: Louis Tomlinson, after an attempted hookup with an alpha at a party, learns how different he is than everyone else. The omega is not only gay, but has a wolf of the opposite gender who is also gay, making it almost impossible for him to find anyone to possibly mate with. That is, until he finds an alpha with the same thing online.(Even though the story isn't done, I am. This story isn't going anywhere, obviously.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are subject to small changes. I have an editor for this book but they are working on other stuff at the same time so editing is a bit slow. This is a taste of what the story is like but it is far from finished.

Chapter One

* * *

Parties? Never was my thing. Yet somehow, I find myself at one here today, trying to find an alpha to pair with for the night. I’ve been waiting to find the right one for a long time and at this point, I’m tired of waiting. It’s just... fingers don’t quite do the job as you want it to, you know? Sometimes, you need just a little bit more. A different kind of warmth, perhaps?

So here I am. At a party, one that a friend of mine is holding, trying to find an alpha who is willing to give me that hot touch, but not mate with and omega. If we are going to do a one-time thing, I sure as hell am not going to let them mate with me. Fuck no. I’m saving that for someone who I really want to spend the rest of my life with. That’s the only downside to being mated for life. If you accidentally mate with someone, then you have no other choice. You two are stuck together for the rest of your lives. Nothing you could ever do to get away from a hot yet icy grasp.

I walk around for a little while, passing tightly packed dancing bodies as I do so, trying to find someone at all to just make me feel good for a night.

It takes a bit of time, but I spot a good looking, blonde haired lad who’s apathetically talking to a curvy girl. She looks way more interested in him than he is with her. I take this as my opportunity to swoop in and “save him”, I guess you could say.

“Hey there,” my voice comes out as soft and sweet as I make my presence known to the alpha in front of me. His head snaps to my direction and his unamused and uninterested expression he had previously been sporting on his face turns into one of delight and relief. “I’m Louis. And you are?” I ask innocently, playing up the part that I’m “supposed” to be, as an omega.

“Hey,” his voice is deep, but it has a warm tone to it and I can feel it resonate through my body. His voice is just that great. “I’m Luke. What’s a pretty little omega like you doing in a place like this? I’m sure you didn’t come here to get wasted like everyone else here,” He says to me, trying to flirt. I have to admit, it’s working pretty damn well.

I just give him an innocent little shrug as I shuffle a bit closer to him. “Just wanted to find a gorgeous man like you to take me into one of those bedrooms,” I smirk a little as I feel him start to heat up a little, telling me that he’s definitely getting into the mood. Well done, Louis. You’re doing great.

He grabs me by the hips and pulls me even closer. This time there is no space between the two of us as I look up at him through my eyelashes. “Well, why didn’t you just say so? I’d be happy to help a little omega like yourself feel good. Just be warned, I’m a big boy. Do you think you’ll be able to handle it?” He asks me, a small growl bubbling up in his throat at the end. To say I was turned on at this moment would be a bit of an understatement.

I give him a small nod before Luke leads me to a bedroom in the back of the house that, luckily, isn’t already occupied. I giggle softly as he pushes me back onto the bed before climbing on top of me. I feel his soft lips connect with my own as we start to kiss, quickly turning into making out.

As we lay there, I start to feel a burning sensation in the pit of my stomach. It’s not too bad at first; it’s just like a faint burning feeling, which is bearable. It’s as the two of us start to take things further, that the feeling gets stronger and even more painful. I try to ignore it at first, but after I’m laying there in my just my underwear, it just gets too much to bear. The pain has shifted from just a faint burning to feeling like something is trying to claw at me from the inside, almost like it’s telling me to quit before I go too far.

I jump out of the bed when the pain gets too much and grab my clothes, covering up a little as I hastily leave the room, tears from the pain I had been feeling fall down my cheeks. Finding my way to the bathroom, I run in and lock the door behind me, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm myself down a bit from what had just happened in there.

The feeling in my stomach slowly starts to go away as I sit on the floor against the door. “What could that have been…?” My voice comes out just barely above a whisper. It was a feeling that I had never experienced before in my life, and I hope that I would never have to experience again. It takes some time for the pain to finally go away, but when it finally does, I pull my clothes back on before quickly leaving the house, and the party. I don’t want to run into Luke by accident and have him ask me what happened to cause me to leave, cause I don’t have a single clue what that could have been.

As I return to the huge mansion I live in with the pack I’m a part of, my thoughts just continue to race as I try to figure out what could have possibly caused the pain that I had felt. It couldn’t have had anything to do with me trying to hook up with Luke, could it? I mean, how in the world would that cause it? We hadn’t even done anything at that point except for making out and getting down to our underwear. He hadn’t even touched me in the slightest, at least not how I was wanting to be touched anyway.

I walk into the door and am snapped out of my thoughts when I’m almost run into by one of my pack members, who had shifted into their wolf form. I growl softly, not in the mood to deal with any of his antics. “Damn it, Zayn. Watch where you’re fucking going.” My voice comes out more like a whisper due to my omega nature, especially since Zayn is a beta and is still more in charge than I am. I watch as Zayn shifts back into his human form. Thank god for the fact that when we change back into human form, we are already wearing clothes. I’ve seen what he hides under those clothes way too much.

“What’s got you all upset, Louis? Damn,” he says as I notice Liam, his mated alpha, walk into the room. I just shake my head a little before turning and walking away. I don’t want to talk about it right now. Honestly, I just want to be alone as I try to think about tonight.

I faintly hear Liam say something as I walk up the stairs a little ways away. “Looks like Louis didn’t have a good day for some reason. Let’s just wait a little while and maybe he’ll come to us to talk.” All I can do is sigh a little. Zayn and Liam are my best friends, so Liam isn’t wrong in thinking that I’ll end up telling them what happened tonight. There’s no way to know when, but I’m sure I’ll tell them at some point.

When I finally make it to my room, I toss off my shoes and put them in the corner of the room along with my others. I look through my dresser and pull out a pair of sweatpants and a plain t-shirt and set them out on the bed. After shutting and locking my door, I change out of the clothes I had been wearing at the party into these new, clean, and comfortable ones. Now feeling all snuggly and comfortable, I toss my clothes in my clothes hamper and climb into bed, pulling the large blanket on top of me. As comfortable as I am in my big fluffy blanket and comfortable clothes, I can’t help but to toss and turn in bed.

All I can think about is that feeling of scratching from the inside of me. I can’t even turn off my thoughts long enough to find a comfortable position to lay in. Every time I settle down and think I could try and get some sleep, the spot suddenly seems very very uncomfortable and I have to find some other position to lay in. God. Why can’t I even lay down and sleep? All I really want to do is just sleep now, but I just can’t. I spend the rest of the night trying my hardest to sleep, but end up getting next to none. Only being able to fall asleep due to pure exhaustion.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are subject to small changes. I have an editor for this book but they are working on other stuff at the same time so editing is a bit slow. This is a taste of what the story is like but it is far from finished.

Chapter Two

* * *

 Being awake for so long, I manage to be up and watching as the sun comes up and filters through the curtains in my room. I can practically feel the bags under my eyes as I sit up, having finally given up on getting any sleep, seeing how the sun has now come up and I have chores to do today anyway. Great. Doing laundry for everyone while running on almost no sleep. It is by far my favorite thing to do in the entire world.

I take a deep breath before getting up and grabbing my hamper and heading down to the laundry room. Seeing all the baskets full of clothes, just waiting there for me to put them in the washer, makes me groan. I’m not in any sort of mood to do any sort of chores, but I have no choice. Everyone except the pack leader as one chore to do at least once every three days. The only reason that the leader doesn’t have to do anything is because they deal with a lot more than we do every single day. Keeping an eye on our territory, making peace with nearby packs, settling feuds between pack members. It’s a hard job to do. I’m honestly so glad I’m not an alpha so I don’t have any chance of having to do that.

I take a few baskets, including my own, and dump them into the washer, pouring the laundry detergent in and starting the machine. Well, at least I don’t have to wash all of these clothes by hand. That would suck. Thank you technology.

After watching the washing machine run for a few minutes, I walk out of the laundry room, only to bump into Liam and Zayn on my way out. I’m honestly not surprised I bumped into them though. While they do live here (and that’s one reason why), I always seem to bump into them when I don’t want to talk to anyone. I decided to just take a deep breath and be nice and at least say hi, especially after how I (tried) to speak to Zayn yesterday.

“Hey, guys,” I speak softly, showing them I’m trying to be polite, but not really in the mood to chat. Liam pulls Zayn a bit closer to him before either one of them respond to me.

“Hey, Louis. How was the party yesterday? Did you have a good time before you came home? I mean, you came home awfully early if I’m honest. I expected you to be out much later,” Zayn’s soft voice says to me, which is actually a bit relaxing. I’d honestly be lying if I said Zayn’s voice alone couldn’t be comforting at times.

I shrug my shoulders a little before answering him. “It was alright, but you know me. Parties never really were for me. I mean, I don’t like being in places where I have to squeeze my way through to go anywhere,” I explained softly, leaving out the part about why I really left the party.

“Was that the reason why you came home so early? Too many people?” Liam asks me. Well, he is right in a way. I look at him and just give him a shrug before I walk away from the two of them. I don’t really want to have them ask any more questions cause I really don’t want to answer any.

After making it to the kitchen, I grab the teapot from its usual spot and fill it with water from the faucet. I fill it up and bring it over to the stove, turning it on and placing the teapot on the quickly heating up burner. Grabbing my phone out of my pocket, I lean on the counter and play games on my phone as I wait for the pot to whistle, telling me the water is nice and hot. For the moment, I forget about the “mystery” I’m wanting to solve as I play candy crush on my phone.

I spend most of the day doing laundry or eating, leaving me no time to think about the pain I had felt yesterday. It was kind of nice to take a break from thinking about it, but that only means it drives me crazy as I settle into bed that night. Laying on my back in the middle of my bed, I stare up at the ceiling, driving myself crazy. “What could have possibly caused that pain? I mean, we hadn’t even done anything at that point, so it couldn’t have been that.”

I just shake my head and get up from my bed, deciding that I’m not getting anywhere on my own. Walking out of my room, I make my way to Liam and Zayn’s room, making sure to knock and not just walk in. I’ve made that mistake too many times. “Zayn, Liam?” I call out, making sure they know it’s me. I wait until I hear them tell me to come in before opening the door and stepping inside.

“Hey, Louis. What’s up?” Zayn says with a small smile as Liam settles down beside them. I am very glad I knocked and didn’t just walk in.

I shut the door behind me and walk a little closer to them. “Well, the strangest thing happened at the party yesterday, and I don’t know what it was,” I tell them softly. I then proceed to tell them about everything that had happened yesterday. Telling them about my encounter with Luke and the pain that came with it. As I speak, I notice they just stare at me, curious and baffled expressions on their faces. Maybe going to them about this really wasn’t worth it. They don’t seem like they could help.

“Wow. That’s… some story, Louis,” Liam says, giving Zayn a quick glance before turning back to me. “Are you sure you didn’t just panic last minute and wanted out?” I groan in frustration when he says that.

“No, Liam. I didn’t just panic and flee. I had a terrible pain in the pit of my stomach. I’m serious,” I frustratingly say as I pull at my hair a bit. Obviously, Liam doesn’t believe me, but why would I make that up? I was really ready for it, and this scratching, burning pain in my stomach made me stop.

I happen to look up when Zayn taps Liam. “Liam, you know Louis. He wouldn’t make up something like that, and it takes a lot of pain to make Louis stop doing something.” Thank god Zayn comes to my aid to try and get Liam to believe what I’m saying. “Louis, I don’t know what that could have possibly been, but I know it had to have hurt you a lot,” Zayn says as I nod a little.

“Maybe you should take it up with Rick. I mean, he knows a lot of stuff about this pack and the history that most of us don’t know,” Liam says to me. He does have a point. Rick would know a lot of stuff about the pack that no one else would be allowed to know since he is in charge. “You’ll just have to go see him in the morning.” I nod a little more and turn on my heel to leave the room.

“Thanks, guys.” I look back at them as I reach the door. “Thanks for at least listening and telling me where I should go.” Liam and Zayn both smile at me gently, telling me that it was no trouble before I finally leave the room and go back to my own. It takes a bit of time, but I do end up falling asleep and for longer than I slept the night before.

Once I wake up in the morning, I go straight to the office that I knew Rick should be in. He hardly ever leaves there as he has a lot of stuff to take care of. I reach the door and knock on it softly. “Rick? It’s Louis. I have something I need to talk to you about,” my voice comes out slow and shaky since I hardly ever even interact with Rick.

I hear him on the other side of the door to tell me to come in and I do just that. He’s sitting at his desk, looking down at some papers on his desk as I walk in. “What is it that you need to talk to me about, Louis?” Rick says before finally turning his attention to me instead of the papers. He looks a little annoyed and at this point, all I really want to do is “put my tail between my legs” and leave the room. Luckily, or sadly depending on how you see it, I push it to the side as I take a seat in one of the chairs that sit in front of his desk.

I take a deep breath before I start to speak. “I know you know a lot about our history, and this pack, and I was hoping you could help me figure something out. Something that’s been bugging me since two days ago,” I tell him, hoping he doesn’t just brush me off.

“Of course. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” He says, leaning back in his chair and focusing all of his attention on me. I then proceed to describe what happened. How as I got close with a guy, a burning, scratching sensation started to form in the pit of my stomach until I was reduced to tears and ran off. I watch as Rick looks at me as he seems to be in deep thought, thinking about what all of this could mean. When I finish speaking, he nods a little and stays quiet for a moment as he gathers his thoughts. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen a case like this, though I have heard of it happening before.”

I furrow my brows a little as I look at him in confusion. “What? A case like what?” I ask softly, wanting desperately to know what he is talking about.

“I’m sure you’re aware of how rare an omega is. I mean, you are one of only three in our whole pack.” I nod a little as he speaks, understanding what he’s saying so far. “And I’m sure you can imagine how rare a gay omega is. You’re the only one our pack has,” he says, making me really start to wonder where this is really going. “Louis, you are a very very special omega. One of only three cases in this packs entire history, which you know lasts over nine hundred years. The wolf inside you is either a male and straight, or a female and gay. The burning sensation was caused by the wolf inside you not wanting to come into contact with a male wolf.”

To say I’m confused would be correct. I mean, I thought the wolves inside of us went right along with who we were. To know that I could have a wolf inside of me who was either straight, or gay, but of the opposite gender, was a huge surprise. That can’t be possible, right?

“But sir, I thought stuff like that was impossible. I thought the wolves we have inside of us were the same as we were,” I say, trying to completely understand this twist I had just gotten word of.

“In very very rare cases, it’s possible for a situation like this to occur. It’s hard to tell which case you are though, considering that you haven’t successfully ever managed to shift into your wolf form,” he explains to me. “Until you do, we won’t know which case you are.”

I groan softly. The one thing I never managed to do was shift into my wolf. Everyone else could do it the first time so easily, but I never got the hang of it. No matter how hard I tried, or how much I tried. I just couldn’t do it.

“I think that should be your goal for now. Try to shift so we can figure out what exactly you are, okay?” Rick says, giving me a small smile. I nod a little and stand up, heading to the door. “Oh, and Louis?” I look back when I hear him call for me again. “Don’t let it bother you, okay? Just because you are a bit different than everyone else doesn’t mean that’s a bad thing.”

His soft smile makes me smile a little. “Thanks, Rick.” I finally leave the room, having a new outlook on me as an omega and with my new goal in mind. “Looks like I have my work cut out for me then.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are subject to small changes. I have an editor for this book but they are working on other stuff at the same time so editing is a bit slow. This is a taste of what the story is like but it is far from finished.

Chapter Three

* * *

 A groan leaves my lips as my frustration gets to me. “Why does this come so easy to everyone else but me? I’ve seen three-year-olds shift into their wolf form with ease, so why not me? I’m 26 for god’s sake!” I say, to no one in particular. I just needed to voice my frustration. Having been out here for four hours, you’d think I’d make some sort of progress, but I haven’t. Not even a little bit.

I plop down where I’m standing and put my head in my hands. I’ve never struggled with something as much as I have with this and it’s so frustrating. “What am I doing wrong? I just want to shift into my wolf. That’s all I want. Is that too much to ask,” my voice comes out small and weak as tears start to form in my eyes. I can’t do anything until I know what kind of wolf I have inside me.

“Louis?” I hear Liam’s voice say behind me. I quickly wipe away the tears that had fallen and look behind me to see Liam looking at me gently, and with a look of concern on his face. “What are you doing out here? Are you okay? Is there something wrong?” He asks, making me just shake my head in response.

“Why am I a failure, Liam? Everyone else can shift into their wolf form, but I can’t. I’ve never been able to.” I can’t help but let more tears fall. I put my head back into my hands as I feel a hand on my back.

I’m pulled into Liam’s arms for a comforting hug as he starts to speak. “Louis, you’re not a failure. You just haven’t gotten the hang of it yet. Everyone struggles at something, and you just happen to struggle at shifting.” I feel him rub my back gently as my tears continue to fall. “You just need more practice than everyone else.”

I look at him a little. “Liam, you don’t understand. I’ve already been out here for four hours and I’m not any closer than before,” I try to explain.

“Okay, you know what? I’m gonna help you.” Liam gives me a small smile and stands up, pulling me with him. He has me stand next to him. “What I want you to do is visualize it in your brain. Actually, picture yourself shifting into a wolf,” he tells me.

I take a deep breath and wipe away my tears before closing my eyes, doing exactly what he tells me to do. “Now, think about nothing else except the transformation.” Again, I do just that. This time, I start to feel butterflies in the pit of my stomach, which I haven’t felt before when I tried to shift. I still don’t change into my wolf.

“I felt butterflies in my stomach. Is that good?” I ask Liam, who smiles brightly at me.

“It sure is. That tells you that you’re doing it right. Now I want you to try again, and think harder,” he tells me and I nod. I clear my mind and do it once again. I feel the butterflies in my stomach again and before I know it, my perspective changes and for the very first time, I change into my wolf form.

I can feel my tail wag a little as I look up at Liam, and even though he can’t see me smile, I do what I can to show him how happy I am. “You did it, Louis! You changed into your wolf form!” He says happily. “Now, to change back, just do the opposite of what you did before. Think about transforming into a person.” It takes a moment, but I manage to change back into my human form.

“I did it! I did it, Liam!” I cheer, wrapping my arms around him in an excited hug. I can’t even describe the feeling I have after finally being able to change my form for the first time in 26 years. My excitement almost makes me forget about the reason why I wanted to change so badly. “Oh, Liam. Was my wolf a male or female?” I ask, which takes him off guard.

“Oh uh. I don’t know. I didn’t get the chance to really see,” he tells me. I nod a little and change back into my wolf form so Liam can take a look at me. He leans down in front of me and looks me over. “I see now.” I change back into my human form when he’s done and I look at him.

“So? What am I?” I ask curiously, wanting to know what I’m dealing with.

“Your wolf form is a girl, Louis. I’ve never seen something like this before. I didn’t know a man could have a female wolf inside of him,” Liam tells me.

“I was talking to Rick and he said it was really really rare, but it does happen.” I look down a bit, now knowing what I am. I’m a gay man with a gay, female wolf inside of him. “Thanks, Liam.” I walk off to think before Liam has a chance to stop me. I just want to have the chance to process all of this before I tell them exactly what’s going on.

I walk off to the back of the house and sit on the porch. “How...how is that possible? And… how am I going to find a mate…?” I feel my dreams of finding a mate diminish as I think about it. With me being gay, there is no way in hell I’m going to mate with a woman, but I can’t mate with a guy unless he’s exactly the same as me. A man with a female, gay wolf inside of them as well.

I spend some time there before getting up and going inside and to Rick’s office to tell him what I found out. I stand at the door and knock softly. “Rick, it’s me. Louis,” I say. He gives me a soft “come in” and I open the door, walking in.

“I see you’re back. Did you successfully manage to change into a wolf finally?” He asks. I want to give him a small glare, but I don’t dare test the head alpha so I don’t do that.

I nod a little as I look at him. “I did. It took four hours, but Liam eventually found me and helped me change. He also told me what my wolf was,” I begin, making his interest peak at hearing me say I finally managed to change into my wolf form.

He gives me a nod. “Okay, and what did he say to you?”

“He said that my wolf was a female,” I respond. I then take some steps forward and take a seat in front of him. “So I have a female wolf inside of me, who only likes females.”

Rick gives me another nod. “It seems so, Louis. I have to say, this is the first case like yours that the pack has ever had.” That gives me no comfort whatsoever. I mean, how am I supposed to react to hearing the fact that I may find someone I really really like, but we won’t be mates because I won’t be able to mate with them? How am I supposed to be okay now that I know that I’ll be an unmated omega all of my life? This wasn’t supposed to happen. It’s hard enough to find a man that I like who is interested in guys as well, so how am I supposed to find someone who will be okay with not being able to mate with their partner because it causes them pain?

“I just… thought I should let you know what I found out. I can leave you now if you’re busy,” I say, looking up at him, unable to hide my sadness. All he does is nod and I get up and leave the room, heading for my bedroom so I can just lay down and think about what I’m supposed to do now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are subject to small changes. I have an editor for this book but they are working on other stuff at the same time so editing is a bit slow. This is a taste of what the story is like but it is far from finished.

Chapter Four

* * *

 

I look down a little as Liam and Zayn just look at me, unsure of how to take the information I just told them. “Wow, uh. So, that’s why you and this guy at the party couldn’t hook up? Because the wolf inside of you is a girl, who’s interested in other girls?” Zayn asks, trying to make sure I have it correct.

“I know it sounds crazy, but Rick says it has happened before, though not in this pack,” I explain. “I just...I don’t know why I’m telling you guys but you are the only people here that I trust and just thinking about not having what you two have...it’s upsetting. Who’s going to want to be with someone they are never going to be able to mate with? I won’t even have a relationship because no one wants a relationship where they know they aren’t going to go anywhere.” I can’t help but start to sob a little.

I feel two pairs of arms wrap around me and pull me into a tight hug. Leaning into them, I just bury my face in one of their shoulders as the tears continue to flow down my already damp cheeks. “Louis, I’m sure you’ll still find someone. There has to be someone out there who will love you despite all of that,” Zayn’s soft voice says to me gently.

“Yeah. I’m sure there’s someone out there for you,” Liam says, rubbing my back softly. Although they do their best to try and comfort me, it comes out hollow. What would they know about my situation? They aren’t the same as me. They have even mated already and have been since they were 18.

I just shake my head a little and look at them. “How would you know if there was someone out there for someone like me?” I snap. “What do you know about my situation? Absolutely nothing. You don’t have to deal with the thought that you won’t ever find someone to love you because you can’t mate with them.” Sniffles come from me as I get up, leaving the room in frustration.

I know they mean well, but honestly, what would they know? Nothing. They wouldn’t even know how to make me feel better. I am the first of my “kind” in the pack’s history. There’s no one around who would know how to make me feel better.

That’s when I get an idea. I don’t know how easy it will be, but maybe I could find someone online who knows what it’s like. I mean, they do make websites for people with rare conditions, right? That’s a thing, right? I decided it wouldn’t hurt to look around the internet, seeing what I can find. Reaching my room, I grab my laptop from my desk and climb into bed, turning it on and doing a little bit of searching on the internet.

I’m unsure of how long I look or how many places I look, but I manage to find the number of someone who says they live with my same situation. His name is Harry Styles, or so the website says. Pulling out my phone, I dial the number the website gives me and wait for an answer. I hope to god that I’m not disturbing him while he’s in the middle of something important, or while he’s sleeping. After a few rings, and right before I decide to hang up, he answers the phone.

“Hello?” I hear a quiet, groggy voice say on the other line. Shit, I did wake him up. Now I feel bad.

“Oh. Uh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I actually wasn’t sure what time it was where you lived. The website didn’t quite specify that” I begin to ramble before hearing a low, tired chuckle come from the other end.

“You’re fine. Don’t worry about it,” he says. “I’m assuming you’re calling me because of my special situation, correct?”

“Y-Yeah. How did you guess?” I ask, surprised that he knew exactly why I, a stranger, was calling him.

“You said you got my number from a website and I don’t think I know you. The only website that has my number on it for strangers to end up calling me is the one where I talked about my situation,” he explains effortlessly. Of course. He would know that strangers would be calling him because of that. Am I really surprised? I shouldn’t be.

“I guess that does make a lot of sense,” I say softly, feeling a bit foolish. “I just...I wanted to know how you cope with it. I mean, knowing that you’ll never find a mate and knowing that people won’t want to be with you long term because of that.”

“Look, uh… Sorry, you didn’t give me your name, or at least I didn’t catch it,” Harry says with a chuckle and I shake my head a little.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t give you my name. It’s Louis.”

“Louis,” he begins. “It was hard for me to accept it at first. I mean, I’m an alpha who will never find his beta but we are all supposed to mate. It’s what we do right?” I nod my head, understanding, even though he can’t see me. “But I ended up finding this beta who said he doesn’t care if we won’t ever get the chance to be mates. He’ll love me no matter what.” I can feel a smile tug at the corners of my mouth, hearing that Harry found someone for him despite our similar situation.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what is his name?” I ask curiously. Hearing that he found someone who loves him, makes me a bit hopeful and I want to know as much as I can.

Harry chuckles softly. “His name is Niall. He’s honestly the best boyfriend I could probably ever ask for.” I smile softly as I lay in bed, thinking about Harry finding someone who treats him that well.

“That’s great. I’m really happy for you,” I say with a bright smile on my face.

“Thanks, Louis. So just don’t worry about it. It might make it harder to find someone who will love you no matter what, but I’m sure you’ll find someone. There is always someone for everyone. I promise,” he tells me and I can practically hear the smile on his face. “I’m sorry to cut our conversation short, but I really should be getting some sleep. I have stuff to do tomorrow and it’s one in the morning where I’m at right now, but don’t be afraid to call me back whenever you need someone to talk to. I’ll always be here for you if you need to talk. I promise.”

I let out the chuckle this time as he says this. “Thanks, Harry. I’ll just put you in my contacts so I don’t have to look you up every single time I want to talk.” This makes him laugh right along with me. We say our goodbyes to each other before we both hang up. Honestly, hearing Harry say that he found someone who loves him despite being so different makes me feel a little better about all this. Maybe there really is someone out there for me. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what life holds for me. Until then, I need to keep my head up.

Now feeling relaxed, I lay in my bed with a small smile on my face. I then find myself drifting off into a peaceful, deep sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are subject to small changes. I have an editor for this book but they are working on other stuff at the same time so editing is a bit slow. This is a taste of what the story is like but it is far from finished.

Chapter Five

* * *

When I get up the next morning, everything seems as it did a couple of days ago. I wake up with a small smile on my face and a positive outlook. It seems as though my talk with Harry last night really did seem to make me feel better about everything. I sit up in my bed and check my phone, seeing a text message from Harry.

“Hey, it’s Harry. Just wanted to let you know that I’m waking up at eight in the morning my time. This way you can try to time your calls so we are both awake. I hope to hear from you soon. Hopefully good news.” He signs the text message with “-H”, which I think is nice that he signs his texts. Feels like I really am getting a modern day letter. I notice he sent the message three hours ago, and it’s nine in the morning right now. So he’s two hours ahead of me. That’s really good to know. I smile and decide to give him a text back.

“Hey, Harry. Yeah. You’re just a couple of hours ahead of me so I’m sure it won’t be that hard to find a time for the two of us to chat so I won’t be waking you up. I’ll keep you updated with how things are going with me, as long as you keep me up to date with you and Niall. I’d love to hear more about your relationship with me. I wish the two of you the best of luck.” I also decide to sign my text. At the end, I sign it with “-Lou”, which I think is simple enough but also a nice little send off for the message.

After sending the message, I put my phone back down on the table and get up from the bed. I walk over to my closet and grab a change of clothes. More specifically a nice big, at least it’s big on me, sweater and a pair of sweatpants. I then start to head to the nearest bathroom so I can take a shower. Luckily no one else is using it so I can easily get in and take a nice, warm shower just how I like it. The shower is nice and short, only taking as long as I need to get clean, before I get out and change into my new clothes.

Once I’m all changed, I head out of the bathroom and go down the stairs and to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea. Zayn and Liam were both in there enjoying a nice breakfast. I’m guessing they notice my change in demeanor from the day before because they look at me curiously.

“I’m guessing everything is okay then?” I hear Liam ask, so I turn my head to him with a kind, gentle smile. I nod my head a little before turning my attention back to filling the tea kettle with water.

“What changed your mood?” Zayn asks next. I wait until I put the kettle on the stove before turning back to the two of them.

I then begin to explain what happened. “Well, after talking to you guys yesterday, I decided to go online and see if I could find anyone who knew what it was like to live like me. It took awhile, but I ended up finding an alpha who understood exactly what it was like having this situation looming over them. He then proceeded to tell me that I had nothing to worry about because I’d find someone eventually. He did,” I explain with a smile. Zayn goes to say something, but Liam quickly covers his mouth, preventing him from saying anything at all.

Liam gives me a smile before he speaks up. “It’s great that you managed to find someone who understands, Louis. I’m so happy for you. So, mind telling us this guy’s name?” He asks, curious to know more about the man I had contacted the night before.

I nod and tell them everything I know about Harry, which may not be much, but I manage to talk to them for thirty minutes about my short conversation with the man. My smile never falters in the slightest as I talk to them. They can’t help but smile back at me, seeing how different my view is now that I’ve talked to Harry.

“But Harry says Niall is so good to him. The best boyfriend he has ever had, even,” I say with smiles. “That means that I could find someone who could be just as good as Niall.” Even the thought of it makes me feel so good to know that all of my worries were for absolutely nothing. I don’t have to worry about being alone forever. Someone will come by and love me.

“Of course, Louis. Someone will love you so much that everything else won’t matter to them. They’ll want to be with you because of how amazing you are. That’s the magic of love,” Liam says before lovingly looking at Zayn, who gives him the same look back. Those two have been in love since they were fourteen, though they didn’t acknowledge it until they were sixteen. Even then they didn’t become mates until they were eighteen. I can honestly say I’ve witnessed love blossoming because of these two.

I shake my head a little and walk out of the room with my cup of tea in my hands. While I do like talking to them, when they get in a lovey mood like that, I’d rather just leave in all honesty. With my cup in my hands, I walk out to the back porch and take a seat. The seasons are just now starting to shift and the air is getting a bit cooler and the leaves are starting to change colors. My favorite season is just about here and it makes me smile that much more.

Fall has always been a comforting season to me. The weather has never been too cold, or too hot. The leaves turn into beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow. Everyone starts to break out the sweaters and comfy, warm clothes. Everything is just so peaceful as nature seems to start to get ready for the winter that is to come soon after. Fall is just such a cozy, calm month.

I spend quite a bit of time out on the porch, just watching nature at work. I finish my cup of tea before setting it down and standing up, knowing how to enjoy this time right now. With my eyes closed, I do exactly as Liam told me the day before and I change into my wolf form. A metaphorical smile on my face as I take off into the nearby forest to go explore in the form I had never been in before.

As I run through the trees, I’m surprised by all the different sounds and smells I am now aware of. I knew that those senses would be much stronger in this form, but I could never wrap my brain around how much more I would actually be aware of. I can smell other animals who have passed through here. I can hear animals who are wandering around nearby. There is just so much more that I am experiencing in this form and I have to say, it’s nice to hear. Nice to know how different my wolf form is than my human form.

After running for a while, I find myself in a clearing, panting softly. I guess I pushed myself a little too much for my first time out and about in this form. Looking around, I see a small lake close by so I decide to walk over and get myself a drink. Right before I’m able to take a drink, my ears perk up, hearing a howl of another wolf nearby. I don’t know if the wolf is in distress or if it is a call for someone else, but I find myself running towards it.

With how close the howl sounded, I’m assuming it was a member of the pack, since a large area around the pack house in the woods is our territory. The only thing is, I’m not sure if I’ve heard this howl before. It doesn’t sound familiar, but the pack is pretty big. I’m sure I haven’t heard every howl from every member enough to know that it was them.

It takes a moment, but I finally reach the wolf who’s howl I heard. In front of me, I see a large, brown haired alpha standing in front of me. Her fur is a bit curly and she has a small patch of lighter fur under her chin and down her neck. She looks at me with these big green eyes for a moment before letting out a small yelp when she puts pressure on her front left paw.

Instinctively, I go to approach the alpha, wanting to help, but she backs away. Ignoring the pain she was in, she runs away from me. I’m guessing she saw me as some sort of threat, though I don’t understand how. I’m an omega. Omegas aren’t threats to alphas in any way shape or form.

I try to ignore the weirdness of that and just run home, luckily knowing exactly how to get back. The whole way back, the one thing that sticks in my mind is the look of pain and sadness in the eyes of that alpha. What could have possibly hurt her? Was it just her paw that was bothering her, or was something more behind the pain and sadness I saw in her eyes?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are subject to small changes. I have an editor for this book but they are working on other stuff at the same time so editing is a bit slow. This is a taste of what the story is like but it is far from finished.

Chapter Six

* * *

I make it back home a bit later that afternoon and change back into my human form as I reach the house. Of course, I struggle a bit changing back, but I change back nonetheless. I pick up my teacup from the edge of the porch. Honestly, I’m surprised by how long it’s just been sitting out here. I’m surprised that no one had already come by to come to pick it up. Shrugging it off, I make my way inside the house.

Everyone had now seemed to have woken up at this point. There were quite a few more people in the kitchen getting themselves something to eat than there was before I left for my exploration earlier. Someone was standing at the stove making some eggs. Another person was making some waffles nearby. I also saw someone standing next to the toaster, probably making some toast if I was to guess. The smells of all of the different foods that were being made come together beautifully and almost make me forget about the strange wolf I had seen in the forest. Keyword: almost.

As I make my way to the living room, I can’t help but wonder. What had happened to that wolf to cause her to be limping? Was she just in pain, or had something upset her? I could clearly see she was hurt, but I could have sworn that I saw sad tears in her eyes, but I can’t be sure. I did only get a chance to look at her for a few moments before she ran off. I really really hope that she is okay. I’d absolutely hate it if something bad had happened to her after she ran off.

I must have been really distracted in my own thinking as I bump into someone on my way to the living room. It’s pretty clear that I ran into an alpha, based on the small scent they give off. My sense of smell may be much greater when I’m in my wolf form, but it’s not too bad either when I’m in my human form as well. I mumble some apologies, hoping that they don’t get too mad at me for running into them on accident. I really should try to keep my deep thinking for when I’m not walking so I don’t end up in situations like this where I bump into someone else.

They just shake their head at me a little before walking off, not too upset with me, but not too happy either. Nice going, Louis. Make someone a little mad, why don’t you?

I sigh softly and sit down in my favorite chair in the room and snuggle up in it. It is by far the comfiest chair in the entire room and I actually have a sign put in front of it that reads “Louis’ chair. Stay out of it.” The funny thing is, everyone follows it. I have not seen one person sit in this chair since I put the sign up. That is the best part of all of this.

Anyway, I snuggle up in the comfy chair and make myself all comfortable. With the big sweater and sweatpants and the chair, it’s almost guaranteed that I fall asleep, which I do find myself doing a few moments after settling down into it.

I’m not sure how much time passes between then and when I wake up, but when I do finally wake up, I’m not in the chair anymore. Someone had carried me to bed. Awe man. I wanted to sleep in the chair. I didn’t want anyone to carry me to bed, and yet they did. Drats. Though I’m not too sure who exactly carried me to bed, I sure have an idea.

I sit up in my bed and look over to my bedside table where my phone rests, seeing that I have a text waiting for me. It’s probably a text from Harry. I mean, He’s the only one I think that would text me out of the blue. Other than Liam, Zayn, and Rick, no one else really has my phone number. When I grab my phone and take a look at it, I see that I was correct. It actually was a text from Harry.

“Currently having to type this text with an injured hand, so I apologize for any errors in my message that autocorrect didn’t find. Anyway, I was wondering if you would mind telling me where you live. You said that you only live two hours away from me and I think it would be a great idea if we were to get together and just chat, you know? Two people chatting about the thing that brought them together, right? I could also bring Niall along and you can meet him too. I’ve been talking about you and Niall said he would like to meet you. Of course, all of this is just a suggestion. You don’t have to agree to meet up if you don’t want to. I won’t force you into it or anything. -H”

I smile softly as I read the text, only smiling brighter when I see Harry’s signature. That’s a really cute thing he does and I love it. I immediately start to write a text back.

“No, I think that would be absolutely amazing. I’d love to meet you in person and I’d love to meet Niall too. It would be so nice to sit down and talk to the two of you face to face.” I then proceed to tell him where I live and when it might be a good time to meet up.

As I sit there, waiting for a response, my mind goes over the text he first sent and I look at my phone curiously. Did he really injure his hand? My thoughts then travel back to the wolf I had seen in the woods earlier that morning. Her front left paw was hurt. Surely this is just a coincidence, right? I mean. Just because Harry’s hand is hurt at the same time I saw this wolf with a hurt paw doesn’t mean anything. I’m not even sure if it’s the same hand.

I decided to ask him what hand was hurt, hoping to prove to myself that this wolf and Harry couldn’t possibly be the same person. “Hey, just curious to know. Which hand did you hurt?” I text him, hoping he answers that question for me first, even though he had probably already been working on the response to my last text.

Of course, he tells me what times would be okay with him for us to meet up, but he does answer. “My left one. I just fell and sprained my wrist, no big deal, ya know?” I feel a breath catch in my throat a bit when I read that. His left hand was hurt? Louis, I’m sure that it means nothing. Just because his left hand hurt like the wolf’s left paw doesn’t mean that you saw Harry out in those woods. He lives two hours away from here anyway. Why would he come all the way here to just roam the woods and then go home? That makes absolutely no sense.

I shake my head, trying to get rid of the possible, but probably very slim chance, that I saw Harry in those woods. I try to focus on trying to find a day for Harry and Niall to come to visit. Of course, I’ll have to clear it with Rick first, so once Harry and I work out when we want to have this meeting I leave my room and go see Rick once again. This time to talk about possibly having someone who is not a member of the pack visit the pack house. I sure hope that he’ll be okay with it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are subject to small changes. I have an editor for this book but they are working on other stuff at the same time so editing is a bit slow. This is a taste of what the story is like but it is far from finished.

Chapter Seven

* * *

 

I wait outside of Rick’s door after knocking with my heart kind of beating fast. I really hope he doesn’t end up getting mad that I want to invite someone who isn’t a part of the pack over here. Not only that, but I kinda already gave him the address so if he’s not okay with Harry coming over here, I’m going to be in really big trouble for giving him the address of the house.

After an agonizing few minutes of waiting for Rick to let me know that it’s okay to come in, I finally hear him. I try to relax as I walk into the room, but I can’t help but to still be very nervous. “I see you’re back to talk to me again, Louis. Should I expect these visits from you often now?” He obviously jokes with me, which does earn a small chuckle from me as I shake my head at him.

“No. I don’t mean to come to see you so frequently, but I need to ask your permission for something,” I begin. “You see...I found this alpha online who is going through the same thing that I am and I was really really hoping that you would be willing to give me the okay to have him come over so we can talk.” I watch as his face drops from his previous smile into a more serious look.

“Are you serious, Louis?” He asks in a low voice. To say I was getting a bit scared would be a bit of an understatement at this exact moment. Rick’s demeanor completely shifted from the laughing, joking guy just a moment ago, into the serious head alpha that he was supposed to be. “You want to invite someone over who has no ties to our pack? Are you insane?” I look down a bit as he speaks to me. “Louis, do you understand how that could possibly go wrong? What if he’s a member of our enemy pack? Huh? Did you even consider that possibility, Louis?”

I shake my head a little. I really didn’t even think about that. All I was thinking was that I could get the chance to meet with and talk to someone who knew exactly what I was going through. Of course, I wouldn’t have thought about anything else.

“Please tell me that you came to me first without telling this stranger anything.” I grab onto the sleeves of my sweater and tug on them a little. I wish I could honestly just disappear right now. At least then I wouldn’t have to listen to or see Rick so upset with me.

“I… I just wanted to meet someone who understood-” I try to say before he cuts me off abruptly.

“You did, didn’t you? You told him where the house was before consulting me.” I could hear all the anger and disappointment in his voice. By now, I couldn’t help but let tears start to fall down my cheeks, feeling so bad. I pulled on my sleeves a bit harder as I tried not to start sobbing. “Damn it, Louis. Now, what are we going to do? Huh?” Rick is now standing and he makes his way over to me. I just keep my head tilted down and my eyes closed firmly, not wanting to look at him.

“I-I...I’m s-sorry…” I hiccup softly.

I hear Rick take a deep breath like he’s going to speak again, but he’s cut off by a knock on the door. Bringing my sweater covered hands up to my cheeks, I quickly try to wipe away the tears as Rick goes back to his desk and sits down. I do the same. He then tells whoever is at the door to come in.

My head hangs low as the door opens and I hear someone take a few steps in. “Oh. Uh. Is now a good time to talk?” I hear Liam’s calm voice say as he probably notices me, hunched over in the chair in front of Rick’s desk.

“Yeah. Now is a good time. I was just wrapping up talking to Louis for now.” Rick then turns his attention to me, giving me a firm look, but kind of gentle at the same time. “Louis, you may leave for now, but come to see me after dinner tonight.” I nod my head quickly and get up, making sure to keep my face out of Liam’s sight as I quick dash out of the open door.

Once I leave the room, I make my way back to my room, wanting to just be alone. I push past everyone that is in my way as I quickly try to make it there before any of the tears start to fall once again. A few people try to stop me and ask what is wrong, but I completely ignore them and just try to make it to the safety of my room.

It takes me a little bit, but I finally make it to my room, shutting the door and locking it behind me. Letting the tears finally fall down my pink cheeks, I slide down the door until I'm sitting on the floor, my knees up against my chest. Small sobs start to leave my lips as I think about how much I messed up.

Why did I not think about all that? What if Harry was part of our enemy pack? We could possibly be ambushed because of my mistake. I’m so selfish for putting my wants above the safety of the pack.

Sobs begin to rack my body as I cry harder and pull my knees closer. If I didn’t have to leave this room for the rest of the day, I honestly wouldn’t. I don’t want to see anyone, especially Rick. All I could think about was the look on his face when he found out I already gave out our address. I must be crying pretty hard because soon after I sit down on my floor and cry, someone knocks on my door.

“Hey? Louis? Is everything okay in there, buddy?” Zayn’s soft voice speaks to me gently, a hint of concern in his voice as he tries to see how I’m doing.

“G-Go away…” I can’t really get the words out because of my erratic breathing, but the words do end up leaving my lips. The words come out soft and broken sounding, and I know that Zayn won’t let it go now that he hears just how upset I really am.

“Louis, open the door buddy,” he says calmly. “You shouldn’t stay in there all by yourself. Please just let me in and we can talk about what has you so upset.” It takes me a bit of time, but I decide to unlock the door and let him in. I stand up shakily, tears still streaming down my face and I unlock the door. Then I make my way over to my bed and crawl into it, pulling my knees close to me once again.

The tears continue to flow down my cheeks as Zayn walks into the room slowly. I can see the worry and concern in his face as he makes his way over to me slowly. “Lou,” he says gently as he sits on the edge of the bed, “what happened? I want you to talk to me.” I shake my head a little and bury my face in my knees.

“I-I… I f-fucked up,” I manage to hiccup out quietly. I then feel Zayn wrap his arms around me and pull me into a nice, warm hug.

“I’m sure you didn’t fuck anything up, Louis. Whatever it was is probably no big deal. No reason to get all upset about it,” he tries to relax me, though it does next to nothing for me. It doesn’t make me feel any better whatsoever. If only he knew what I did, then he would change his mind about it being no big deal.

I shake my head quickly. “You d-don’t understand…” I mumble out, trying to stop my crying enough so I can actually talk to him. He looks at me a little as he rubs my back.

“Then help me to understand.”

I make eye contact with him for a few seconds before turning my head away. “I...I potentially gave o-our enemy pack our location and now…” I have to stop myself mid-sentence to sniff a little, “Rick is really angry with me.” Now I start to sob once again. “I-I just wanted to see Harry and now I possibly put the pack at risk.”

Zayn tightens his hold on me. “Louis, I’m sure Harry won’t give out the address to anyone. Besides, he doesn’t know what pack you belong to. You don’t even know if he is a part of a pack right now. I don’t think you have anything to worry about. You don’t know anything for sure right yet.” I bury myself in his chest and grab a hold of his shirt gently, sobbing into his chest. “Lou, just relax. Harry sounds like a nice guy. I’m sure he wouldn’t do anything to potentially put you at risk, or anyone you know,” he tries to convince me.

It takes a while, but I do manage to finally calm down in Zayn’s arms. My sobs have stopped and the tears have long since dried, though I don’t move out of his arms. His embrace is just so warm and comforting, that I don’t want to leave it unless I have to.

“Rick will come around, I’m sure,” he says quietly to me, and I nod a little in response. Maybe it will take a bit of convincing, but Rick will see that this is no big deal, right?


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are subject to small changes. I have an editor for this book but they are working on other stuff at the same time so editing is a bit slow. This is a taste of what the story is like but it is far from finished.

Chapter Eight

* * *

 

The rest of the day goes by and even though Zayn got me feeling better about my talk with Rick, I still was uneasy. I still had to go back after dinner, and I was dreading it. Judging by how our conversation went earlier, I’m guessing that all he is going to do is yell and get mad at me. I didn’t want to deal with that; not in the slightest, though it’s not like I have any choice.

Before dinner is ready, I decide it might be a good thing to call Harry and tell him what’s going on. I sit at my desk and click on his name in my contacts and wait for him to answer. It takes a few moments, but I hear a small sniffle on the other end and Harry answers. “Hello?” He says softly. His voice sounds a little weak and shaky, making me wonder if he had been crying before he answered the phone. I get a little concerned for him, hoping that everything is going okay.

“Oh, hey, Harry. Is everything okay? You sound like you’ve been crying,” I say to him softly, voicing my concern and worry for him.

“Y-Yeah. I’m fine,” he stutters a little before sniffing again. “I was just watching a movie and it got really sad. What did you need to talk about?” I don’t quite buy the story he’s trying to tell me, but at this point, it’s hard to say for sure if he’s lying or not. I don’t know him that well just yet.

I take a deep breath and start to tell him about what happened earlier. “So, I went to make sure that my head alpha was okay with you and Niall coming over to come to talk to me and stuff. Well, he didn’t really like that at all,” I explain to him.

“What? Why not?” Harry asks me, obviously confused on why Rick would have said no, or even had any problems with him coming over. “All I’m going to do is come talk to you and meet up with you for the first time. That shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“That’s the thing,” I begin, “Rick thinks that you’re a member of our enemy pack and he came down on me because I gave the address of our pack house to you. He’s worried you’ll bring that pack over here and cause a problem with us. I don’t think you’d do that though. Besides, you don’t know what pack I belong to, right? There’s no way you’d know if our packs were enemies just like I wouldn’t know the same thing.” I start to ramble on, hoping Harry understands that I don’t think that he would turn his back on me like that. I genuinely think Harry is a great, and kind guy who would never do anything like that to anyone.

"What? Why in the world would he think that?" Harry asks me, obviously curious as to why my head alpha would think that he's some sort of threat to us. "If I'm being truthfully honest, I'm not even a part of any pack. I ran away from my pack when I was young for reasons I'd rather not go into right now. Since then, I've lived pretty much on my own. Well, except for living with Niall," he explains to me. In an odd way, I'm glad he's not a member of a pack. That means he has no chance of even being a part of our enemy like Rick had suggested to me.

"Yeah, so see. You pose no threat to us whatsoever," I can't help but to say happily. "I didn't think that even if you were a pack member, that you would sell us out to anyone. You are too nice of a person. I mean, we've only been talking for a few days, so I don't know you too well, but from what I have seen so far, you are such a kind and caring person." Harry's low chuckle rings from the other end of the line after I say these things.

I hear him take a breath like he's going to say something, but he's interrupted by someone who calls out to him. "Hey, Hazza. I was wondering what you wanted to eat. I'm gonna order in some food since we don't have much in the kitchen and I don't really feel like running out to the market this late in the day," I hear an Irish accented voice say. I think it's Niall. It's faint, considering the fact that they are talking to Harry and not directly to me over the phone, but I still understood what he said.

"Yeah. I think it would be nice to have some Chinese. I'm not really in the mood for any pizza and it's been a long time since we've had some Chinese food." Strangely, his usual cheery voice was strained and seemed forced and faked. I wanted to shrug this off to him still being a bit upset about the movie he was watching, but I knew that I couldn't really believe that. You'd think someone's mood would change a bit when they were talking to someone they loved, though I don't know anything about their relationship. Things might be in a bit of a rough spot. All I can really do is hope that everything is okay between the two of them and that they'll be okay.

I don't realize that I'm zoned out until I hear Harry call out to me, trying to get my attention. "Louis? Louis? You still there?" He asks and I shake my head, snapping out of the thoughts that had distracted me. I give him a small chuckle to show that I was still there.

"I'm sorry. I zoned out. What were you trying to say?" I ask, feeling a bit embarrassed that I missed out on what he said before he had to try to get my attention.

He chuckles along with me and speaks up once again. "I was just apologizing for stopping our conversation. Niall needed to ask what I wanted for dinner," he explains to me. I tell him that it's okay and we continued to talk until he had to get off the phone to eat. Of course, I let him go easily. It wasn't polite to be on the phone while you're having dinner with someone, so I couldn't make him stay and talk to me.

Right after I turn off my phone and place it on the charger next to my bed, I hear the familiar sound of the dinner bell ringing. For a moment, I smile big, thinking about what we could possibly be having for dinner that night, but then my smile falls. It was then that I realized that now that dinner is ready, there isn't much time left before I have to go talk to Rick again, which was the one thing that I was absolutely dreading. The only difference is that this time when I talk to him, I'll be able to tell him that Harry doesn't belong to a pack, let alone the one we have issues with.

I leave my bedroom and walk down the stairs, where the amazing smell of meatloaf and potatoes fills my nose. I know this smell all too well, so I can tell that Liam's mom, Karen, made dinner tonight. She definitely has the best recipe for meatloaf in the entire pack, and I'm sure everyone else would agree with me. Karen is the only one around here that ever cooks meatloaf for dinner, anyway.

Making my way over to the dining table, I take a seat in my usual spot, waiting for Liam and Zayn to take their seats next to me. As minutes pass by and the table begins to fill, the usual chatter also starts. People telling each other about the events of the day. Talking about the plans some of them had for the next day. All the usual talk, though I was included in none of it. Not that it bothered me any. I had no family here and I was close with no one except for Liam and Zayn, so I didn’t expect anyone to reach out to me to chat.

It takes a little bit, but they finally make their way into the room. Happy looks on their faces as Liam has one arm wrapped around Zayn's waist. It's hard to find a time when Liam doesn't have at least one arm wrapped around Zayn in some way, shape, or form, though it's not like I really care.

They take their seats to the left of me. Zayn sits right next to me as Liam takes the seat right next to him. "Hey, Lou. I see you're feeling much better after everything that happened earlier," Zayn says with a soft smile on his face, seeing that I'm much happier than before. I give him a happy nod, showing him how much better I was really feeling.

"Yeah, I really am. I talked to Harry so everything is okay now," I explain. Zayn gets this goofy smile on his face as I tell him that. I'm not quite sure what that's about, but I just shrug it off as Liam speaks up.

"So, Louis, what happened earlier that go you so upset? What was Rick talking to you about?" He asks me. I should have known that he would ask something like that. He was the one who walked into the room that cut off our conversation, anyway. Liam is also my best friend, so he would be concerned having seen how upset I was when I left that room so Liam and Rick could talk about what they needed to talk about.

I let out a soft sigh and look at him. "I don't really wanna talk about it right now, okay? I have to go back to talking to Rick after we're done eating and I just wanna see how this one goes," I kind of explain to him. Knowing that he's not going to get anywhere, Zayn speaks up.

"I'll tell you later, okay?" That satisfies Liam enough that he drops the subject as all of us are served the food that Karen made for all of us that night.

I spend all of dinner, just kind of listening to all the conversations that people are having. I hear that someone next to me found out they are having a baby, someone else is excited about the new art project they are working on, and another one just beat the game they had gotten a few months ago. So many different conversations happening at the same table at the same time. I even hear Liam and Zayn talking about the possibility of getting married one day, seeing as how same-sex marriage isn't legal where we live yet. All of us are pretty hopeful though that it will be legal soon.

I eat all of what's on my plate and just sit there for a moment, wondering if I should go on up to Rick's office and wait for him to be finished eating, or if I should wait in my room until he's ready to see me. I just look at my plate and think for a bit before I'm snapped out of my thoughts by Liam. "Lou, Rick says he's ready to see you," he tells me. I take a deep breath, feeling relaxed that I now don't have to worry about what I'm gonna do while I wait, but now I'm nervous about the conversation ahead of me.

I get up from my seat at the table and head off to Rick's office for the second time that day. I really hope my conversation with him will help him realize that we have nothing to worry about with Harry coming over to see me. Maybe this time it will be less of him yelling at me while I cry, and more of the two of us talking to each other calmly and me explaining why we have nothing to worry about.

Of course, I don't think that will be happening. I walk into his office and I'm immediately met with a look of annoyance and disappointment on his face. "Do you still think it is right that you invited him over here before asking my permission?" He asks me, giving me a disapproved look. This is going to be a hard-fought battle to convince him, but I'm not going to back down this time. I will get him to understand that Harry is nothing to fear.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are subject to small changes. I have an editor for this book but they are working on other stuff at the same time so editing is a bit slow. This is a taste of what the story is like but it is far from finished.

Chapter Nine

* * *

"Yes, I do think so. Besides, Rick. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. Harry doesn't even belong to any pack. He's a lone wolf," I try to explain to him.

Rick rests his head in the palm of his hand and lets out an exhausted sigh. "Louis, how can you possibly believe someone who you've known less than a week? For all you know, he could be lying to you. You can't really trust this guy," he tries to tell me, but I'm not having any of it. I trust Harry, and I'm going to get Rick to trust him too.

"You have to trust me on this. Harry is a really nice guy. Would someone who isn't so nice be willing to leave his phone number on a website so people could contact him if they wanted to talk?" I ask him, trying to make a point. At this point, I'm just a bit frustrated that he won't even budge a little bit.

"Louis, anyone could put their phone number on any website and say they are there for one thing, but really be there for something completely different. Why do you think people advise against internet dating? Because people have ulterior motives," he groans out. "I'm not letting him come over here and that is final."

I glare at him for a moment before I get an idea. "Okay, what if I get you to talk to him? What if you can check him out and see if you can trust him enough to come over. I'm sure after you have a conversation with him you'll see that he is really kind and sweet and wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone." Rick gives me a look of frustration before letting out another sigh.

"Fine. Fine. I'll talk to him, but if I don't trust him, then he won't be coming over and you will not ask about it ever again," he tells me, and I nod, understanding completely. "Call him."

I can't help but smile brightly as I run up to grab my phone before running back. Once I'm back in Rick's office, I speed dial Harry and wait for him to answer. Just, as usual, it takes a ring or two before Harry answers his phone. "Hey, Louis," his voice sounds so much cheerier than it was before, making me smile even more knowing that he's feeling so much better.

"Hey, Harry. So uh, I'm talking about you coming over to the head alpha and he said he wouldn't be willing to let you come over unless he could check you out first," I explain.

“Oh, that’s what you want? Well, of course, I’ll talk to him. Just put him on and I’ll convince him that you and the rest of the pack have nothing to fear with Niall and I coming over to visit you,” Harry says cheerfully and I smile brightly, hearing him agree to talk to Nick.

“Okay, I’ll put him on the phone right now then,” I say to him before pulling the phone away from my ear and handing it over to Rick, who was waiting patiently. He then starts to chat with Harry and I just stand there, waiting for them to finish talking. I listen to the conversation as closely as I can, hoping that it goes well. The very last thing I would want would be for the two of them to get into it over the phone. If that were to happen, there would be no way Rick would allow Harry to come over here, or even let me go see him.

I feel all of my fears start to melt away as I watch Rick’s frown relax, and even turn into a bit of a smile as he continues to talk to Harry. He even lets out a chuckle. “Alright, Harry. I well, it was nice to talk to you,” Rick’s voice comes out more relaxed and happier than it was before as he starts to end their chat. “I’m going to go ahead and let you go now.” The two of them say their goodbyes and Rick ends the call.

“So?” I ask, curious to see what he has to say about it now. Although I pretty much know what he’s going to say at this point.

He gives me a nod before saying anything. “Harry is a very nice fellow. I guess it wouldn’t hurt at all if he came over.” My smile only grows bigger as I hear him say this. I can hardly contain my excitement, so I jump up and down a little, thanking him over and over again for changing his mind.

“Thank you so much, Rick. You don’t have any idea how much this really means to me,” I say to him with what could have possibly been the biggest smile I ever had. Rick lets out a chuckle before I make my way out of the room, happily bouncing off to my room, and of course, I run into Liam and Zayn on the way.

“Ooh. Look at you, Louis. I’m assuming that the conversation with Rick went really well?” Zayn asks though he doesn’t really need to. He can see the answer written all over my face.

“It went great! I got Harry to talk to him and it didn’t take that long for Harry to convince him that he was a great guy! I just stood there and watched as Rick’s disappointed look shifted into a small smile, and even formed into a chuckle!” I exclaim happily, not helping but to get a little loud as I tell them this. “Then Rick even agreed to let Harry come over, seeing how nice of a guy he was!”

The small smiles on both of their faces only got bigger when I told them that. “That’s great, Louis. We can’t wait to meet Harry. Of course when you’re ready for us to meet him,” Liam said, acting as if Harry was my boyfriend or something.

“Liam, you sound like my dad who is wanting to meet my boyfriend or something,” I say with a small chuckle, hearing how ridiculous that sounded when I said it. I shake my head at him as he just looks at Zayn before turning his attention back to me.

“Well, you do seem to act like you like him. You do talk about him a lot and to him a lot. You also just convinced our head alpha to get another strange alpha to come over here. It seems like something someone would do for someone they deeply cared for,” Liam points out and I blush a little and turn away from him.

“I can’t like him, Liam. I mean, he has a boyfriend after all. I’m not going to be stupid and fall for someone who has a boyfriend,” I said before walking off to my room, suddenly feeling quite embarrassed.

I can’t like Harry. I’ve only been talking to him for a few days. I barely know anything about him, really, other than the fact that he and I are the same in the sense of ourselves and our wolves inside of us, but that can’t make me like him, can it?

I shake my head as I walk into my room and settle down in my bed. I wrap myself in my comfy blanket and lay there, thinking. “Liam’s just messing with you, Louis. He’s just trying to poke at the fact that you haven’t even had a boyfriend in so long,” I try to convince myself, but I don’t really buy it.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes with one last thought going through my head. If I did like Harry, would he like me back if he didn’t have Niall?


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are subject to small changes. I have an editor for this book but they are working on other stuff at the same time so editing is a bit slow. This is a taste of what the story is like but it is far from finished.

Chapter Ten

* * *

 

It takes a bit of time before Rick lets me know when I can have Harry come over, but a week or so after Harry and Rick talked I bounce around all excited because Harry and Niall were coming over today. I made sure to take a nice long shower the night before so I looked decent. It may not be a big deal, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t look gross when they finally came over.

I sit in my chair in the living room along with Liam and Zayn sat in the loveseat nearby. I bounce my leg nervously as I wait to hear the doorbell ring. The other two pick up on my nervous twitching pretty easily.

“Looks like someone is nervous to meet Harry for the first time,” Liam says with a chuckle, making me look over. He nudges Zayn a little with a small smile and just pulls him closer. “Louis, you really excited aren’t you?”

I nod a little as I watch them. I couldn’t lie. I was really really excited. What was there to be embarrassed about? Harry was the only guy I could find who understood what I would be going through, so meeting him for the first time was really exciting. I could ask him a bunch of questions, and I could meet his boyfriend and talk to him. 

Before either one of them has the chance to say anything else, the doorbell rings and I jump up. “That must be Niall and Harry!” I exclaim happily and almost run to the door, making sure to try and relax before finally opening the door. When I do, I’m met with two guys at the door. One is really tall with really long, curly, brown hair and really pretty green eyes. He stands there with a really charming, dimpled smile on his face. The other one is a bit shorter, but not by much. He has nicely styled obviously dyed blonde hair with bright blue eyes and a kind, gentle smile on his face. I can pretty much guess who is who, considering that I’ve seen one picture of Harry on the website when I got his number.

I look at the guy with curly hair and give him a bright smile. “Hey, Harry,” I say to him happily. He returns the smile and doesn’t hesitate in giving me a hug, which surprises me a little. I guess he’s a hugger.

“Nice to finally meet you, Louis,” he says, and I can feel his smile on the top of my head, considering how much taller he is than me. I wrap my arms back around him and return the hug. Harry is really really tall. Hugging him makes me feel like I’m a child. A very young child.

“Nice to meet you too, Harry,” I say gently. I can feel all of my nerves just melt away as I stand there with him for the first time. For the first time in my life, I think I can actually say I feel really really safe in someone’s arms. I’ve never felt this relaxed before, and I honestly don’t know if I want to leave his arms at this point.

The only thing that breaks us apart is a cough from behind Harry, which would probably be Niall. The two of us break apart and Harry grabs his hand gently. “Louis, I’m sure you could probably guess, but this is my boyfriend, Niall,” Harry says, though his cheer has once again faltered as he says this. I push this off to the side though as Niall gives me a small smile and I return it.

“It’s nice to meet you, Niall. Harry talks about you quite a bit when we talk over the phone,” I say to him and he nods again. “Oh, where are my manners, come on in,” I say and move over so the two of them can come inside. Once the two of them are in, I shut the door behind them. They look around the place with a small smile.

“There’s the guy Louis won’t stop talking about,” Zayn’s voice rings before he walks over with Liam, hand in hand. Liam takes one look at Harry and gives an instinctive growl as he pulls Zayn closer to him, sensing the fact that he’s an unmated alpha. Of course, Liam couldn’t help it. It was all instinctual.

“Liam, you have no reason to be nervous. Harry couldn’t take Zayn from you even if he wanted to,” I say, trying to relieve some of this tension he has inside him. Liam glares at Harry for a moment before walking off with Zayn pulled close to him. I should have remembered that Liam would be a little aggressive around Harry since he isn’t mated with anyone. I really didn’t think that through at all. I look over at Harry. “I’m sorry. I forgot that Liam might get a little… how do I put it? Uh. Uneasy with you here. He’s always on the lookout for an alpha who might want to touch Zayn. Mate stuff, you know,” I explain, but Harry just laughs a little and shrugs it off.

“Oh don’t you worry about it, Louis. That happens a lot more than I’m sure you’d understand, and it won’t be the last time,” he says with a smile. I can’t help but smile back.

“Are you thirsty? Niall, would you like anything to drink?” I ask the two of them. Harry settles with a cup of tea and Niall says he’s good with a cup of water. I nod and go to the kitchen to get the two of them what they want, with them following close behind. “So, how are things going with the two of you? I hope everything is going well,” I say as I make Harry’s tea after giving Niall his cup of water.

“Well, everything is going great. Nothing to really complain about,” Harry says, but it doesn’t seem right. It wasn’t what he said, but how he said it that seemed weird. Those words sounded a bit hollow as he said them. Like there was no truth to it.  I look back at Harry and give him a soft look but he just shakes his head a little and puts on a fake smile for me.

“Hey, I’ll be back. I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” Niall says to Harry, kissing his cheek softly before standing up and looking at me. “Would you mind telling me where the bathroom is, Louis?” Niall asks, and I tell him before he walks off to go to the bathroom. 

Once Niall is a ways away, I look over at Harry, finally asking him the question that had been gnawing at me for a little while now. “Harry, is everything really okay with you and Niall? Everything from you seems a bit… forced,” I say softly. “Now you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I want you to know that it’s okay if everything isn’t okay. I’m here to talk to you just like you’re here to talk to me. Don’t be afraid to say anything.”

He shakes his head again and pulls his arm a little closer to himself, and that’s when I notice the bandage around his left hand and wrist. So he really did hurt his hand or wrist. I wonder how that happened.

“Okay, well what happened to your arm?” I ask him, but I get a boring explanation in response.

“I just fell. Sprained my wrist,” he halfheartedly explains to me. “It’s no big deal. It should be healed soon so.” I still don’t believe him, but I have no choice.

I nod, knowing that Harry isn’t going to admit anything to me. At least, not just yet. “Alright,” I say softly to him before turning my attention back to the whistling tea kettle on the stove. I grab a mug from the cabinet as Niall walks back into the room. Once I finish pouring Harry’s tea, I pass it over to him and the three of us take a seat at the table to chat.

“So, how did you find out about your wolf, Harry?” I ask him, trying to make some sort of conversation that flips the mood of the atmosphere in the room.

“Oh well, I don’t exactly know how my mom knew, but she had always told me about it. Even when I was little. She always told me that I was very special and that even though I might not find a mate, that wouldn’t be any reason to get upset,” he says with a small, and this time genuine smile. Niall looks at him with a smile as well and kisses his cheek before taking his right hand in his own. Harry stiffens up a little, but as quickly as I see it, it vanishes as he relaxes, which is a very odd reaction someone has to their boyfriend grabbing their hand. This makes me even more curious as to what could be going on between the two of them.

Maybe next time I’ll invite Harry over by himself next time so the two of us can talk about some things without Niall present. Maybe then I’ll start to get some sort of answers from him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are subject to small changes. I have an editor for this book but they are working on other stuff at the same time so editing is a bit slow. This is a taste of what the story is like but it is far from finished.

Chapter Eleven

* * *

 After the slow and odd start to meeting the two of them, things start to go pretty darn well. I finally start to learn more about Harry and Niall and even learn a bit about their relationship as a whole. Harry tells me that before he left his pack, he used to help his mom back for his old pack. From what he tells me, she was the best baker out of every single member in that pack. Anytime anyone wanted any kind of baked goods, his mom would make them. Of course, he would help out.

Niall goes on to explain how Harry is really good in the kitchen as well, just like his mother was. Most of the time when they have a home cooked meal, it's usually Harry who does all of the cooking. I honestly find this really cute. It's not very often that I hear of an alpha cooking for a beta. Not that alphas don't cook, or can't. It's just that it ends up being the beta all of the time because betas just want to do it for their alpha. Hearing that Harry doesn't expect anyone to cook for him is really nice, in my own personal opinion.

I tell them a lot about myself as well. I explain how I lost my family when I was a young child so many years ago, which then led to me being taken in by this pack. I also tell them how I became friends with Zayn and Liam. For laughs, I also decide to tell them how bad of a cook I am. Luckily, it does get a bit of laughter out of them.

"Maybe I'll have to come over here sometime and teach you how to not burn the food, Louis," Harry says with a chuckle. I laugh along with him, but Niall stays quiet as he just kind of watches Harry. I furrow my eyebrows a little as I notice his mood change. Although he only stares at him for a short moment or two, I could feel how annoyed, if that's the right word I should use, Niall was at the comment that Harry had made.

"Niall, you alright, lad?" I ask though I could probably guess that he wasn't going to give me a real answer. It didn't hurt to try and ask anyway, though.

Of course, Niall shakes his head at me. "I'm okay," he says, but I don't believe him. Neither does Harry it seems. His smile vanishes as he looks over at Niall and seeing his mood suddenly change into something so different.

"Hey, Louis," I hear Zayn's voice say, cutting the tension in the room. The three of us turn out attention to the raven-haired lad who has a small smile on his face. "Everything okay in here?" He asks, and I just nod a little. The only thing I'm thinking at the moment is where Liam could be.

"Z, where's Liam," I ask, looking around the room a little bit.

"He's asleep. I thought I'd take this time to meet your guests since he's not looming over at me," he explains before looking at Harry and Niall, giving them a small wave. "I'm Zayn, Louis' friend," he tells them gently and holds out his hand for one of them to shake. Harry doesn't hesitate in taking his hand and shaking it happily.

"Harry Styles. Nice to meet you, Zayn," he says cheerfully with a kind, happy smile before motioning to Niall to his right. "This is my boyfriend, Niall Horan." Niall smiles at Zayn and just gives him a wave and a nice smile.

Zayn then turns his attention to Harry only. "I'm sorry about Liam earlier. He's my mate," Zayn start to try to explain, but Harry stops him with a chuckle and a shake of his head.

"Zayn, don't worry about it. There's nothing to apologize for. You really have no idea how often that happens to me when I pass by someone in public. I'm pretty used to it by now, honestly," he says with a laugh, making the rest of us laugh along with him. He honestly had a pretty contagious laugh, and it was nice. I'm sure his laughter would brighten up a room.

“Well, I think Niall and I really should be heading home,” Harry says, standing up from his seat at the table. Niall follows soon after in standing up as well. “Niall and I have work in the morning and we live a few hours away and we want to be sure that we get home before it gets too late. We need our sleep.” I nod, understanding what Harry’s telling me.

“Of course. I completely understand,” I tell him before standing up as well. “Thank you so much for coming over, though. It was nice to sit down and actually talk to you face to face, you know?” I say with a smile before hugging him. My smile only grows as I feel him hug me back.

“I know. It was really really nice to sit and talk with you in person too, Louis,” he says as he envelopes me in a really nice hug. Harry really does give really nice hugs. Not only that, and I’d hate to admit this, but I like the height difference between the two of us. Hugging Harry makes me feel so safe. I can tell as we hug that Harry relaxes as he hugs me. Maybe I make him feel safe as well.

We pull away from each other and I turn my attention to Niall, hugging him as well. It takes him a moment to relax and wrap his arms back around me, but he does. This hug was different than the one I shared with Harry. I could see Niall’s reluctance in the hug. Like he really didn’t want to hug me, but he still tried to be considerate, so he hugged me back. I make this hug shorter and pull away before it gets too long, seeing as how we don’t seem to really enjoy the hug anyway.

“Thanks for coming. Really. Both of you,” I say to them with a small smile on my face. Harry smiles brightly at me, showing off his dimples.

“No problem, Louis. I’m sure Niall I will be by more from now on. If not, it’ll just be me. Can’t wait for our next visit,” he says before grabbing Niall’s hand and looking over at the quiet, Irish beta. “Come on, babe. Let’s go home now.” With that, the two of them leave the house to go back to their home a few hours away.

I watch them leave before looking over at Zayn, who has a big, goofy grin on his face. “What are you looking at me like that for?” I ask him with a chuckle, walking past him, though keeping my eyes on him.

“Oh nothing, Louis. Nothing at all,” he says, keeping his grin on his face. I just shake my head a little and laugh it off, knowing that whatever it was wasn’t that big of a deal.

“Just go on back to your mate before he wakes up and gets upset that you aren’t there with him,” I tell Zayn. Surprisingly, he actually does just head off and go do that. Well. Today was a day, wasn’t it? Looks like I have quite a bit to think about for a little while. What could be going on with Harry, and why Zayn kept looking at me like that. There’s something I’m missing in both cases. Maybe I’ll find out soon.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are subject to small changes. I have an editor for this book but they are working on other stuff at the same time so editing is a bit slow. This is a taste of what the story is like but it is far from finished.

Chapter Twelve

* * *

 

By the time winter starts to come around, Harry and I start to get really close to one another. We spend so much time on the phone, chatting about things going on. I start to tell him about how we got a few new members of the pack since one of our members had twins. I tell him about Liam planning to give Zayn a ring for Christmas. (Shh. Don't tell him.) I even tell him that I've been trying to learn how to cook better from some other people in the pack and I've only caused a small fire once. Believe me, that is a lot of improvement.

Harry just laughs along with me as he tells me about a stray kitten he adopted. He named her Darcy. She's a healthy three-week-old kitten with the biggest blue eyes he's ever seen. He's even sent me pictures of her. I gotta say that she is really cute. I smile brightly as we talk on the phone for the second time today. I'm just relaxing in bed with my phone up to my ear as we talk.

"I wish autumn would stay forever. I don't like the really cold weather, and I don't like snow either," I tell Harry as we are now on the topic of the change in the seasons.

"But Lou, with winter comes your birthday and Christmas. The best two days of the year," he says. I smile a little as I think about how close I am to being twenty-seven. Gosh. I'm getting to be an old man, aren't I? "No, you're not, Louis. Twenty-seven is still a pretty young age. Stop calling yourself an old man," Harry says, making me realize that I had said that out loud. Though it's not the first time I said my thoughts out loud over the phone.

"Oops. Alright, Harry. I'll stop calling myself an old man," I say with a small smile, hearing him cheer in response. It's times like these that I'm really glad I met Harry. He's a friend of mine who I can talk to one on one without any sort of worry about being brushed off to talk to someone else like I am with two other people I know. Though, I guess they can't help it. Mates will be mates, am I right?

"Hey, what do you say about me coming up there for your birthday and Christmas? Niall's going back to see his family in Ireland and I don't really get along with his family," Harry explains to me, but it only makes me smile more. Spending the best two days of the year with my new best friend? Heck yeah.

I chuckle a little before giving him my answer. "Of course I wanna see you for my birthday and Christmas!" I tell him happily.

Harry then goes to say something, but he's cut off by Niall calling his name. I'm not sure if it was just me, or if Niall seemed angry as he called for his boyfriend. "Coming Niall!" Harry calls out to him before going back to me. "I gotta go, Lou. I'll talk to you later, okay?" He says to me.

"Of course. I'll be here when you're done. Not like I'm gonna go anywhere," I say to him kindly. I could practically hear the small, thankful smile when he spoke up again.

"Right. Bye, Lou. Love you," he says really softly. I'm caught off guard by the last two words he says to me, but I have no time to ask him about it before he hangs up the phone, cutting off my chance.

I pull my phone away from my ear and just stare at it. "Did...Did Harry just say he loved me?" I ask myself softly, not believing what I just heard. "Did he mean as a friend? Oh of course he did. He's got Niall. There's no way that he would betray Niall like that," I try to convince myself, but my heart doesn't want to hear it. Wait. Do I love him too? No. That can't be. I can't love Harry. There's just no way.

I try to shake my head of those thoughts and push myself out of bed, leaving the room with the large sweater and pajama pants I have on. Maybe a nice walk out in the woods would be good for me.

Making sure no one is around, I walk out the back door and out onto the porch. Taking a deep breath, I shift into my wolf form and run out into the woods. The chill in the air no longer bothering me as the fur that is now covering my body keeps me warm enough. I've only been out here one other time, so I try to make sure I don't get lost by keeping track of anything that could help lead me back to the house.

I run for a little bit before coming to the clearing I had been to before. The only difference is that all of the trees surrounding the clearing have now lost their leaves and the leaves themselves have made an outline right along the edge of it. I mentally smile as I slowly make my way out to the center of it. Leaves crunch beneath my feet as I make my way over. To be honest, this looked like a really good place to be. A really nice place to just sit and relax. To take your mind off of anything that's troubling you. Of course, I take advantage of this.

Once I make it to the center of the clearing, I take a deep breath and just lay down right there. My thoughts have just been swept away by the calm, nice surroundings around me. The gentle breeze blows some of my fur as my ears twitch, hearing a small chirp from a nearby bird, which I'm surprised by the fact that the bird hadn't already left the area for the coming season.

I curl myself up in my desired spot and just close my eyes as I listen to all the sounds around me. I don't lay there long though before I start to ask myself seriously if I loved Harry. I mean, he's a close friend so of course, I love him, but did I...really love him?

To be honest, I'm not sure if I've ever felt anything like this with anyone else. I'm always super excited when Harry calls me or texts me. Having him over here is a really great time and I get a little sad when he leaves. I talk about him a lot. Does that really mean I'm in love with him? Maybe? I don't know.

I take a deep breath and clear my head. Maybe after a nice nap here, I'll be able to think. Maybe I'll talk to Zayn and Liam. They sure know what it's like to fall in love. Maybe they can help me figure this out.

The only thing that goes through my head is "If Harry didn't love Niall, would he be with me?" With that in mind, I drift off into a peaceful sleep in the middle of the clearing that I found in the woods while I remain in my wolf form. I wake up hours later to a wolf howl nearby, which jolts me awake.


End file.
